PRINCE Charles and Camilla joined other VIP guests yesterday to watch the new Dutch king Willem-Alexander being sworn in after the abdication of his mother Queen Beatrix.

The 2,000-strong audience at the investiture in Amsterdam was the largest gathering of royalty since last year’s celebrations for our Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.

It was a scene that Charles, 64, is never likely to see in Britain, where abdication is a taboo word for the Royal Family after the 1936 crisis when Edward VIII stood down to wed American divorcee Wallis Simpson.

Willem-Alexander, 46, became the first King of the Netherlands since 1890 on the day his mother abdicated at the age of 75.

Queen Beatrix, who stood down after 33 years as monarch, followed her mother Juliana and grandmother Wilhelmina in making way for a younger generation.

She blinked back tears as she stepped on to the balcony of the Royal Palace and presented her eldest son to the crowds of cheering well-wishers in Dam Square.

The out-going monarch, who now takes the title of Princess Beatrix, said: “Some moments ago, I abdicated from the throne. I am happy and thankful to present to you your new King.”

Tearful Princess Beatrix, centre, abdicated

Some moments ago, I abdicated from the throne. I am happy and thankful to present to you your new King

Princess Beatrix

Willem-Alexander, who has promised informality and told people they do not have to call him “Your Majesty”, was invested at a ceremony in Amsterdam’s Nieuwe Kerk, or New Church.

He wore a mantle decorated with silver lions that has been used for investitures since 1815.

Beside him was his Argentine-born wife, 41, a former investment banker now known as Queen Maxima, wearing a tiara and a full-length royal blue dress and cloak.

Their eldest of three daughters, Catharina-Amalia, nine, became Princess of Orange and is now first in line to the throne. The King said: “I take office when many feel vulnerable or uncertain.

“We can no longer take it for granted that children will be better off than their parents. Our strength is, therefore, not in isolation but by co-operating.”